Dating Optimism: Believe You Can Have It

Hey, all. For the next bit I’d like to do a series based on the book Meeting Your Half-Orange: An Utterly Upbeat Guide to Using Dating Optimism to Find Your Perfect Match, by Amy Spencer. The book is divided into six steps to help you, well, meet your half-orange, also known as your perfect match. I’ve started reading this book …

A Return to Fairytales

I was going to write about the third top struggle you shared in the survey, the fear of not finding the right person, but that post will wait a bit. I want to share another one first, inspired by Cinderella’s glass slipper in Monday’s post.   Many of us grew up with fairytales like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, in one …

On Waiting

The second of the top three challenges you shared in the survey was not having dates. We haven’t talked enough about that here, so let’s get into it.   When I was in my low 20’s, I had a conversation with one of my uncles about shidduchim. I was very down and said that no one was interested in me. …

On Loneliness

I’ve been in shidduchim for many years now, and there were times I was extremely lonely and times I wasn’t lonely at all. It depended on a few factors, including how interested I was in marriage, how many close friends were around, and what other fulfilling relationships — like new friends I made at work, or my extended family — …

Emotional Contagion and the Other People of Shidduchim

I listened to a really interesting podcast episode about the history of the laugh track. Did you know that hearing a laugh track actually makes jokes seem funnier? That’s because of emotional contagion, the phenomenon where one person’s emotions trigger the same emotions in someone else. That’s also why the headlines we read each day and the images we look …

Rejection and Self-Worth

I’ve been meaning to write about this not-so-cheery topic for awhile but I had to get into the right frame of mind. So, let’s talk about putting yourself out there, trying (to get an appointment with a shadchan, to get a date, to date well, to like someone), rejection, maybe repeated rejection, chronic rejection, and the impact on your self-worth. …

A Shopping Order is Also a Prayer

Thank you to those who completed the survey! Much appreciated. Hint, hint…   Pesach this week! Let’s do it!   I have an embarrassing obsession with Pesach shopping orders. Don’t ask.   Back in the day, my mother used to do one giant grocery trip before she started cooking in the Pesach kitchen. Sometimes I would go with her and …

Back to Top